Fresh Thyme opening soon in Symmes Twp.

Fresh Thyme Farmers Market is among the newest tenants that will locate at the Harpers Station shopping center in Symmes Township. The store is expected to open later this fall.
(Photo:
Provided/Brixmor
)

Fresh Thyme Farmers Market and Pet Supplies Plus are among the retailers helping reposition commercial spaces at the Harpers Station shopping center in Symmes Township.

The grocery store, which will occupy about 29,000 square feet of space, is expected to open in early November, said Mike Carroll, chief executive of New York-based real estate investment trust Brixmor Property Group.

Fresh Thyme will employ between 90 and 100 workers at its new store at 11349 Montgomery Road. The full-service store focusing on fresh, healthy, natural and organic foods will be the second in Greater Cincinnati. The store is filling space Bova Contemporary Furniture occupied before it moved.

Also at Harpers Station, Pet Supplies Plus is filling a combination of adjacent small shop vacancies for an 8,000-square-foot store.

The 244,243-square-foot shopping center is 94 percent leased, Carroll said. Other tenants include HomeGoods, L.A. Fitness, Stein Mart and T.J. Maxx. Harpers Station was built in 2000 and Brixmor acquired the property in June 2011.

Carroll said he sees Cincinnati as a growth market and Brixmor will continue investing in existing properties and is looking to acquire more.

"Cincinnati is a very key market for us," he said. "We've been in the market in a material way for the last 15 years. We have almost two million square feet in seven properties."

Brixmor's investment focus is on acquiring and managing grocery-anchored shopping center. Carroll said the Cincinnati team worked hard to attract a grocer to Harpers Station. He said landing Fresh Thyme, which has venture funding from Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Meijer, as a tenant will be important to the development's success.

"We feel very good about them as an operator and we really like the Farmers Market concept that they're bringing to the market," he said. "That's proving to be a very important segment for consumers and they're focused on local and fresh and very natural food."

Brixmor also owns Brentwood Plaza in Springfield Township, Delhi Shopping Center in Delhi Township, Surrey Square Mall in Norwood, Western Hills Plaza and Western Village in Westwood, Western Hills Plaza and Florence Plaza and Florence Square in Florence.

Brixmor Property Group, one of the nation's largest owners and operators of community and neighborhood shopping centers, has 522 properties nationwide.■